After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

"Leave the blueprints and engineers to me." Gu Zheng's voice carried an undeniable authority, silencing all the whispers in the threshing ground.

He braced his hands on the edge of the octagonal table, his gaze sweeping over Wang Laocai and Zhao Dahai: "If we're going to repair it, we can't do it half-heartedly. A wooden plank bridge will just fall apart during the flood season in a few years. If we're going to repair it, we need to build a stone arch bridge that can accommodate ten heavy-duty trucks!"

Ye Zhen stood up at the opportune moment, walked to Gu Zheng's side, and clearly explained the economic benefits to everyone: "Uncle Zhao, Uncle Wang, building this bridge may seem time-consuming and laborious on the surface, but the calculations aren't that simple. Right now, our quarry's trucks have to travel twenty miles along the winding dirt road behind Heishan Village to get out of the mountains and onto the provincial highway. If the bridge is completed, the trucks can go directly through Dahe Village and reach the main road in less than three miles!"

She paused, her cool gaze sweeping over the expectant men of Dahe Village: "More importantly, with this road, Dahe Village will no longer be a dead end. Mountain produce and crops can all be transported out via this bridge to earn cash!"

Zhao Dahai listened, his eyes wide with astonishment. Though uneducated, he understood the implications perfectly. This bridge was the lifeline that would change the fate of Dahe Village!

"Commander Gu, Zhen!" Zhao Dahai slapped his thigh, making the empty wine bowl on the table rattle. "You've even taken care of the blueprints and the engineers! If Dahe Village doesn't contribute, we'll truly be beasts! I'm telling you this now: for the next few months of bridge construction, every single man in Dahe Village, young and old, whoever is breathing, will work on the construction site for free! Not a single penny will be paid! Anyone who dares to slack off or cheat, I, Zhao Dahai, will personally break their legs!"

"Yes! Let's do the voluntary work!" Zhao Shanhe shouted, his eyes full of enthusiasm.

"No money needed! Just a full meal will do!" The men of Dahe Village responded enthusiastically, their faces flushed, eager to grab their shovels and head down to the river to dig sand right now.

Just as the excitement was reaching its peak, a heart-wrenching wail suddenly ripped through the crowd.

"Tiedan! My dear grandson! What's wrong with you?!"

At the table in Dahe Village, a boy named Tiedan, barely ten years old, suddenly clutched his stomach and fell straight down from the long bench. He rolled around in the mud in pain, curled up like a shrimp, his little face pale and his forehead covered in beads of cold sweat.

"Oh dear, why is this child convulsing? Could it be an upset stomach?"

"Don't talk nonsense! The meat we bought is clean and freshly slaughtered from live pigs!" Aunt Liu Fen said anxiously, slapping her thigh.

Zhao Dahai panicked and was about to rush forward when a clear, cold voice rang out: "Get out of the way! Don't crowd around, keep the area well-ventilated!"

Ye Zhen strode over, with Gu Zheng close behind. His burly figure blocked the way, his iron-blooded military bearing separating the panicked and jostling villagers.

Ye Zhen knelt on the ground and reached out to loosen Tie Dan's tightly bound waistband. Her cool fingers gently pressed on Tie Dan's protruding belly.

"Ouch!" Tie Dan let out a miserable scream, his eyes rolling back in pain.

"Acute gastric dilatation." Ye Zhen frowned slightly, turning to look at Grandpa Tiedan, who was crying anxiously. "He usually doesn't eat much oily food, but today he ate several large bowls of braised pork and steamed buns, and his stomach just burst. If we don't get it out soon, once the stomach wall perforates, even a miracle won't save him."

Grandpa Tiedan was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost knelt down: "Daughter, save my grandson!"

"Second Aunt, go and fetch a bowl of warm water, add a spoonful of salt! And get a pair of clean bamboo chopsticks!" Ye Zhen gave the medical orders methodically, her cool voice carrying a calming power.

Liu Fen quickly brought over warm salt water. Ye Zhen pinched Tie Dan's chin and forced him to drink half a bowl, then precisely pressed the acupoint at the base of his tongue with bamboo chopsticks to induce vomiting.

"Wow!" Tie Dan straightened up and vomited undigested chunks of meat and dough all over the ground, instantly filling the air with a sour and foul smell.

After vomiting out most of the filth, Tie Dan's belly, which had been as hard as a rock, finally deflated, and his complexion gradually regained its color. He weakly called out, "Grandpa."

"She's alive! She's really alive!" The men of Dahe Village looked at Ye Zhen with completely different expressions of awe and reverence, now seeing her as a living Bodhisattva.

Grandpa Tiedan, tears streaming down his face, pulled Tiedan towards Ye Zhen, about to kowtow, but Ye Zhen quickly stopped him. Zhao Dahai exclaimed, "Zhen, you not only showed Dahe Village a way to survive, but you also saved the people of Dahe Village! We in Dahe Village will risk our lives to do this bridge repair work!"

A dramatic emergency rescue completely sealed the fate of the two villages, focusing their attention on the crucial task of building the bridge.

As the sun began to set, the banquet ended. The people of Dahe Village returned home with profuse thanks, and even the wild vegetables by the roadside seemed greener than usual as they left.

The Ye family courtyard returned to tranquility. Several women from the village helped wash the pots and pans.

Standing at the entrance of the main room, Ye Zhen watched this scene and felt much more at ease. With her eldest brother's marriage settled, the foundation of Black Mountain Village was now completely secure.

"Let's go inside, it's windy outside." Gu Zheng draped a military overcoat over Ye Zhen's shoulders and then put his arm around her shoulder as they walked towards the west room.

The kang (a heated brick bed) in the west room was warm and cozy. Ye Zhen took off her coat and picked up the first-aid kit.

"Take off your clothes, let's change the dressing." Ye Zhen pointed to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her tone regaining its professional doctor's tone.

Gu Zheng obediently unbuttoned his military shirt, revealing his strong, scarred upper body. The wound he sustained a few days ago during a hand-to-hand combat with mercenaries in an exercise had scabbed over, but the surrounding muscles were still somewhat red and swollen.

Ye Zhen held a cotton ball soaked in alcohol with tweezers and gently wiped around the wound.

"You were so confident at the dinner table just now. Do you have a clear idea of ​​who the engineer will be?" Ye Zhen asked casually while applying red antiseptic.

Gu Zheng grasped Ye Zhen's wrist with his other hand, gently rubbing her hand with his thumb, and chuckled, "When has your man ever fought an unprepared battle? I used to serve in the Southwest Military Region, and I had a company commander in my engineering unit named Old Ma. After he was demobilized, he was assigned to the provincial capital's architectural design institute, specializing in bridge design. Asking him about this is just a matter of a word."

Ye Zhen withdrew her hand and reapplied the gauze: "The provincial capital isn't close to here. Do you think they'd be willing to come to this remote, impoverished area on a business trip?"

"He dares not to come?" Gu Zheng snorted coldly, with a hint of swagger from a soldier. "Back in the Laoshan front, if I hadn't carried him out of the minefield, his leg would have been crippled long ago. I'll go to the brigade headquarters right now and call him a long-distance call."

Gu Zheng finished dressing, not even buttoning all the buttons, and strode out the door.

A night wind picked up, making the paper windows rustle. Ye Zhen sat under the kerosene lamp, sketching the interior plans for the soon-to-be-constructed cardiovascular interventional center in her notebook by its dim light. Before the West could establish a technological monopoly, she had to lay a solid foundation in China first, planning in advance which floor would house the catheterization lab and which would be the post-operative ICU.

About half an hour later, the gate to the courtyard rang.

Gu Zheng pushed open the door, bringing with him the chill of the night. He went to the stove to warm his hands and ward off the cold before walking to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

Ye Zhen looked up and closed her notebook: "Did you get through?"

Gu Zheng pulled up a stool and sat opposite her, his eyes reflecting the flickering flame of the kerosene lamp.

"It's settled." Gu Zheng reached out and tucked a stray hair behind Ye Zhen's ear. "Old Ma will take the earliest green train tomorrow. He'll bring the existing stone arch bridge draft with him. He can finalize the design after calculating the hydrological data on-site."